Houston real estate firm Rockspring Capital has purchased 304 acres of land on the Northeast Side where it plans to build hundreds of homes

Houston real estate firm Rockspring Capital has purchased 304 acres of land on the Northeast Side where it plans to build hundreds of homes

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The home builder for the Northeast Side project M/I homes already builds homes in the $200,000 price range in several neighborhoods in San Antonio including Remuda Ranch, Paloma, Republic Oaks, Highland Grove and Bricewood. less

The home builder for the Northeast Side project M/I homes already builds homes in the $200,000 price range in several neighborhoods in San Antonio including Remuda Ranch, Paloma, Republic Oaks, Highland Grove ... more

Houston firm buys 304 acres on Northeast Side to build homes for $200,000

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Houston real estate firm Rockspring Capital has purchased 304 acres of land on the Northeast Side where it plans to build hundreds of homes for around $200,000 — an increasingly rare price range in San Antonio.

The firm bought the land, near the crossing of Binz-Engleman Road and FM 1516, in late July from local development company Galo Properties, according to deed records published last week.

Rockspring plans to develop half the land itself with about 450 homes and to sell the rest to other developers who would build another 450 or so, said Michael Ross, the firm’s vice president of asset management and entitlements.

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Homebuilder M/I Homes is under contract to build the first 60 lots, and construction will begin in the next two months, Ross said. He expects the entire 304 acres to be filled up over the next seven to nine years. He declined to say how much Rockspring paid for the land.

Homes on the property will be priced between $180,000 and $240,000, said George Herrera, vice president of McAlister Real Estate, which represented Rockspring in the transaction. That price range has been getting harder to find for new homes in San Antonio. The median price of a home in the local area — including new and existing homes — was $218,800 in July, up from $187,000 three years earlier, according to data from the San Antonio Board of Realtors.

The Northeast Side’s relative affordability and the quality of its schools will help attract residents, Ross and Berrera said. Rockspring plans to extend Walzem Road into the 304 acres.

Rockspring had been considering buying the land since 2011, Ross said. The firm decided to proceed after noticing the rapid rise in the local market, he said.

“From 2013 on, the velocity in the area started picking up, so we started analyzing this deal more and more,” Ross said. “It made sense in today’s market to buy that big of a chunk of land.”

Rockspring has been investing in the San Antonio area since 2012, working closely with McAlister Real Estate, Ross said. In April, the firm bought 3 acres of land across the street from the Alamodome, and it has made other land investments on the Northeast Side. Last year, it sold a 1,590-acre property in Helotes, 24 miles northwest of San Antonio.

The company likes the predictable nature of San Antonio’s real estate market, Ross said. “It’s very similar to the Houston market — it doesn’t suffer ups and downs,” he said.

Rockspring tends to buy property with cash rather than taking on debt, which allows it to move quickly and creates less uncertainty in transactions, Ross said. The firm bought the 304 acres with money from investors from the U.S. and Canada, he said.

The previous owner, Galo Properties, is known for building master-planned communities such as Alamo Ranch on the far West Side and Arcadia Meadows on the Northeast Side. Last year, a partnership affiliated with Galo filed for bankruptcy protection after its lender moved to foreclose on more than 1,150 acres it owned in Georgetown’s Water Oak at San Gabriel development.